As Eskom continues to battle with its infrastructure following a strike that pushed South Africa in Stage 6 loadshedding, South Africans will have no respite this week.
On Sunday, Eskom announced that generation capacity shortages will persist for the next few weeks and as a result loadshedding will continue to be implemented.
“Depending on several possibilities – including the workforce fully returning to work to conduct much needed repairs to equipment – it is anticipated that loadshedding gradually be lowered to Stage 2 by the weekend. Eskom will communicate and implement any changes as may be necessary,” the utility wrote.
As of Sunday afternoon the loadshedding outlook is as follows for Monday:
- 05:00 – 16:00 – Stage 4
- 16:00 – 22:00 – Stage 6
- 22:00 – 00:00 – Stage 4
On Tuesday the stage shifts ever so slightly:
- 00:00 – 05:00 – Stage 2
- 05:00 – 16:00 – Stage 4
- 16:00 – 22:00 – Stage 5
- 22:00 – 00:00 – Stage 4
Worryingly, on Sunday Eskom reported that 18 319MW of capacity was unavailable due to breakdowns. Given the strike action which only reached a breaking point last week thanks to discussions with labour unions, South Africa is on tenterhooks.
The utility said on Friday that it would take disciplinary action against workers who embarked on an unlawful strike.
“We will be taking disciplinary action against workers that had stayed away unlawfully and that may include the application of principle of their work and pay. Where there are acts of intimidation and violence, the Eskom disciplinary code will apply,” Eskom group chief executive officer, Andre de Ruyter said on Friday.
As many as 90 percent of workers had returned to work by Friday according to EWN.
With no end to the outages in sight, we urge you to download EskomSePush for Android and iOS devices to plan your week, and seemingly weekend, ahead accordingly.
Stage 6 loadshedding will be implemented on Monday afternoon, with varying stages of loadshedding implemented during the week. pic.twitter.com/TfINrHKsYb
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) July 3, 2022
[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]
